Egypt calls for Syrian intervention to end crisis

Egypt yesterday called for intervention to halt violence in Syria, telling a meeting of 120 nations it was their duty to stand against the “oppressive regime” of Bashar al-Assad, prompting a Syrian walkout.

President Mohammed Morsi, elected two months ago after an uprising toppled Egypt’s long-standing leader Hosni Mubarak, said Assad had lost legitimacy in his fight to crush a 17-month- old revolt in which 20,000 people have been killed.

Morsi’s scathing speech to a summit of non-aligned leaders, hosted by Assad’s Shi’ite ally Iran, prompted Syria’s foreign minister to accuse the moderate Sunni Islamist leader of inciting further bloodshed in Syria.

The political broadside against the Syrian president came as rebels said they shot down a fighter plane in northern Syria, where his air force has been storming opposition-held towns in a counter-offensive against insurgents.

It was the latest strike by Assad’s foes on the air power he has increasingly relied on to crush the uprising.

Rebels said this week they attacked a northern military air base and shot down a helicopter that was blitzing a district of Damascus.

“The bloodshed in Syria is our responsibility on all our shoulders and we have to know that the bloodshed cannot stop without effective interference from all of us,” Morsi said.

“We all have to announce our full solidarity with the struggle of those seeking freedom and justice in Syria, and translate this sympathy into a clear political vision that supports a peaceful transition to a democratic system of rule that reflects the demands of the Syrian people for freedom.”

His comments prompted Syria’s foreign minister Walid al-Moualem to storm out of the meeting, claiming Morsi was inciting fighters to “continue shedding Syrian blood”, Syrian state television said.

On Wednesday, Assad, in his first television interview since rebels took their fight into the heart of Damascus, said his fight to put down the uprising was going well but needed more time.

“Everyone wants this battle to be completed in days or weeks but this isn’t reasonable, because we are in the middle of a regional and international struggle and it needs time to be resolved.”